This is a daily series telling the story of the tombstones of people who are historically important and interesting as they relate to the Battle of Gettysburg. The series runs through July 4, marking the 150th anniversary of the battle.

By Joe Farley, Joe Farrell and Lawrence Knorr

Virginia "Ginnie" Wade was a 20 year-old resident of Gettysburg who was in love with a

Virginia "Ginnie" Wade was a 20 year-old resident of Gettysburg who was in love with a Union soldier, Jack Skelly, a member of the 87th Pennsylvania infantry.

Union soldier, Jack Skelly, a member of the 87th Pennsylvania infantry. Skelly had been severely wounded and captured at the Battle of Carter's Woods near Winchester, VA. A mutual friend and former classmate, Wesley Culp, who had moved to Virginia and joined the Confederate forces came upon Skelly and took a letter from him to deliver to Gettysburg.

As the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg raged, an opportunity to deliver that letter came quite quickly for Wesley Culp. On July 1, 1863, he managed to slip away from the fighting to visit his two sisters on the Culp farm, and was crestfallen to learn that Ginnie had left her home to stay at her sister’s and was in the crossfire between the lines. Shortly after, on July 2, Wesley Culp was shot and killed within sight of the house where he had been born. He was never able to deliver Skelly’s message to Ginnie Wade.

Ginnie had worked hard for two days yet on July 3, 1863, she again awoke very early (4:30 a.m.) to prepare bread for the Union soldiers. Soon after, the house came under Confederate fire. Georgia McClellan later noted the last words Ginnie spoke to her. According to Georgia, Ginnie said, “If there is anyone in this house that is to be killed today, I hope it is me.” According to Georgia, Ginnie did not want any harm to come her sister’s way because she had a baby.

That day around 8:30 a.m., Ginnie was kneading dough for bread when a bullet came through a wooden door into the kitchen of the house and struck her in the back, killing her instantly. She had a picture of Jack Skelly in her apron pocket.

Knorr
had a personal connection to the subject matter; he's a relative of
Union Major General John Reynolds, who died on the first day of battle.
The three of them collaborated on this latest version of Keystone Tombstones.
As you will see with this daily feature, there were no shortage of
interesting stories to choose from, since the Battle of Gettysburg
produced 7,600 Confederates and Union soldier deaths and 51,000
casualties.

Over the course of the next 18 days, leading
up to the anniversary of the battle at the beginning of July, Knorr,
Farrell and Farley will introduce a Gettysburg 150 "Tombstone of the
Day". The post will look at are tombstones of residents, soldiers,
generals and other historically significant individuals that are
relevant to the Battle of Gettysburg or the Civil War in general.